Retrofuturism defined is: “The future as seen from the past and the past as seen from the future.”
Pondering what advances the coming years may bring can be challenging, thought-provoking — even frightening.
But sometimes the prophecies that artists, designers and filmmakers make about everything from technology to food are just plain fun, especially when viewed through the lens of what previous generations were led to anticipate. As one writer put it, “You thought that the future would be like this, but we know better now — we laugh at your predictions!”
Perhaps she was thinking of examples like these . . .
Clothing. Remember the sleek space suits sported by the Robinson family on TV’s Lost in Space? It was how 1968 envisioned the year 1998, when colonists from Earth were imagined flying out into deep space. Back in the ’30s, artists imagined the year 2000 to have such items as an electric belt that adapts to climatic changes; a wedding dress made of glass (great match for a Cinderella slipper!); and a men’s jumpsuit containing a radio, telephone and containers for “coins, keys and candy for cuties.”
Food. American suffragette Mary Elizabeth Lease predicted in 1893 that we’d be eating only synthetic food by 1993, freeing women from kitchen duty. No sympathy for those who actually enjoy cooking!
Yet while a meal in a capsule may be only an element of science fiction (and small wonder, considering that the 2,000 daily calories required by the average person would require ingesting about half a pound of daily pills), researchers are working on a diet pill that tricks the body into thinking it has consumed a large amount of food. It’s almost enough to make one wonder if eating could become obsolete as well.
Media. Funny how great technological advances typically come with a high price. In Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451, firemen set fires — to books, no less — instead of putting them out. In the movie Logan’s Run (1976), the threat of overpopulation is addressed not by contraception, but by terminating citizens once they reach age 30. Yes, we finally make it to Mars, but in 1959’s The Angry Red Planet, missions to Mars unleash battles with monsters (sometimes even rubber ones!).
Architecture. “Just imagine a resort entirely centered on the culture of alcohol. A boozer’s paradise built expressly to facilitate drinking and the good times that naturally follow. Where the bars, clubs and liquor stores never close.” That would be Mel Johnson’s 1952 story “Boozetown,” and no, it wasn’t a joke, but the germ of a full-size adults-only city. After years of struggling to finance his proposal, Johnson gave up in 1960, dying (unsurprisingly?) in a mental hospital in 1962.
A great deal of imagination and optimism — peppered with more than a little foolishness — has been invested in our future past. How will our visions look to those who come after us?